Trials- Part 1

 

I am going to share something I have never shared before. I haven't ever told anyone what happened in the Spring of 2018. Many people know parts of it, and my husband, who was there for most of it, doesn't even know the entire events that happened. Before I start I can tell you that Spring 2018 made me realize I was a much stronger person than I had ever given myself credit for! 

Too set the stage let me explain what was going on prior to April. I started chemo very quickly after my diagnosis. I was doing a regime name Folfox. It had a powerful drug- Oxaliplatin. The drug was working until I developed a reaction to it. I got very red all over, nauseous, difficulty breathing and overall felt awful. The nurses immediately hit me with Pepcid and other stuff to counter the drug. Needless to say we stopped using it. I was moved to a different regime named Folfiri with a new drug- Irinotecan. Then that one made my chest tight. So chemo was stopped and everything was looking good in the scans. The doctor told me he would see me in three months. So I went about my business and thought life was good! 

Then in April, I was having difficulty with using the bathroom. I was so constipated and nothing was coming out for days. I felt so sick my husband took me to Methodist ER. After a myriad of tests the doctor turned me over to a Gastrointestinal (GI) doctor that was on call. He came and talked to me about putting stents in my colon to improve the function. Since it wasn't surgical I said sure. So I was prepped for a procedure. We had to wait long hours for use of a room with an imaging machine so he could see what he was doing. The surgeon explained to me that  he was going to put the stents above and under the tumor to open things up. I finally got to imaging room and got situated on a table. Then I went to sleep.

While I was asleep the doctor inserted the stents. I woke up and definitely needed a shower because when he put in the stents things moved and it was messy. I basically got dressed and went home. Life went back to normal for a couple of weeks. Towards the end of April things got really bad and I ended up fighting for my life!